Hundreds of deaths per year are attributed to accidental carbon monoxide poisoning within residential dwellings. May of these deaths occur due to a malfunction within a gas furnace. Although technologically feasible, little effort has been made toward increasing the safety of gas furnaces.
Recognizing the tragic consequences that all too often result from a gas furnace malfunction, it is an overriding object of the present invention to improve over the prior art by providing an additional measure of safety in the operation of a gas furnace. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method whereby the level of carbon monoxide in the air flowing from a gas furnace into the residential portions of a building is monitored and, if excessive, gas flow to the furnace is immediately interrupted. Finally, it is an object of the present invention to provide such a system that is reliable in operation and economical in implementation, thereby making the system readily available as a standard component for any gas furnace.